An increasingly popular alternative to DSL is to go online in your home office via cable lines. This option is available nearly everywhere you can sign up for cable television. Its appeal lies in the "always on" connection and, theoretically at least, very good connection speeds. Your local cable provider supplies a cable modem that connects to the cable line and an Ethernet cord that leads from the modem to your computer. The Internet provider station is connected to the cable company via fiber-optic cable. Then the cable company's fiber-optic line connects an entire neighborhood via the shared cable-modem connections.

Because access is shared among all enrolled computers in your neighborhood (it's like a LAN -- but it's for the whole community, not just your house), bandwidth may suffer, as can security. Bandwidth decreases as enrollment increases. While it is possible to attain downstream connections at 30Mbit/sec., in actuality, you're more likely to get 500Kbit/sec. to 700Kbit/sec. (and 128Kbit/sec. upstream). In general, you'll realize much slower upload speeds compared with download speeds. And having a shared network inherently reduces the security of each individual on the network.

Both DSL and cable-modem connections enjoy widespread popularity, so you'll have to weigh the pros and cons according to your individual needs. And you may not even have to make a decision -- it's possible that only one is available in your neighborhood.

Douglas Schweitzer is a freelance writer and Internet security specialist in Nesconset, N.Y. Contact him at dougneak@juno.com.